


Tror Pa

by EmmaOverland



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies), Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Eventual Smut, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Frostcup - Freeform, Hijack, Jealousy, M/M, Multi, My First Work in This Fandom, Possibly OOC, Slow Build, movieverse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-31
Updated: 2015-08-26
Packaged: 2018-02-15 12:34:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 17,788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2229165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmmaOverland/pseuds/EmmaOverland
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack Frost spends a lot of time on Berk watching over the Vikings there and one in particular...young Hiccup. And then one day Hiccup sees him and it changes everything.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimers: I don’t own How to Train Your Dragon 1 & 2 or Rise of the Guardians. Those belong to DreamWorks Animation. Any mentions of “The Big Four” characters belong to Disney/Pixar.
> 
> Pairings: Eventually there will be…but at the moment there aren’t  
> Rating: PG-13…for now…  
> Warnings: AU, language, horrible misrepresentation of Vikings, eventual smut, angst…delicious angst…use of the Jokul Frosti bandwagon
> 
> Notes: Starts shortly after HTTYD and continues through to HTTYD2, mostly disregards the TV series as I’m not familiar with it…except for the Dragon Academy thing. Jack still had his brown cloak, nothing blue yet…maybe but not yet. Also I’m not a medical expert but I know from personal experience that after getting a concussion, small things can wear you out…and there is no way Hiccup didn’t suffer some sort of head trauma after that fall.

Hiccup stared out at the waves gently lapping against the stone columns dotting the edge of Berk. His mind was racing as he thought about the recent events since he’d woken up…his father finding the Dragons, the battle with Red Death, Dragons joining Vikings in Berk and the two living together, Toothless…Astrid…Hiccup frowned. What was going on with him and Astrid now? Toothless shifted beside him and began to rumble softly in his throat when Hiccup reached out and began to pet the large black Dragon.

“This is insane Bud.” Hiccup muttered before looking up toward the sky.

It was getting closer to winter…well…it snowed nine months out of the year anyway…but they’d recently had a nice longer summer. Deep grassy green eyes darted away from the graying clouds to look over at the village. He could hear his father yelling orders from here and smiled softly. Stoick the Vast had warmed to his son magnificently since the battle and since Hiccup had woken from his dreamless sleep. The auburn haired Viking yawned and frowned when Toothless opened green-gold eyes immediately. The large Dragon made a sound of distress and stood up slowly, nudging his human with his nose as he did.

“All right come on Bud, I get it.” Hiccup laughed as he stood slowly, still getting used to the limited amount of mobility due to his fake leg.

It was a rough start getting used to having a wood and metal limb. He’d done some reinventing over the past few days but the thin boy could only handle so much activity before he got too tired. With Toothless’ help he managed to get down to the village and into Gobber’s shop. The blonde man grinned broadly.

“Aye there you are Hiccup.” he greeted and Hiccup responded with a small tired smile.

“Hey Gobber.” he mumbled with a wave of his hand as he moved over to the bellows and examined things.

Gobber made a noise behind him and Toothless watched from the door. “Yer not going to be doing any working for a while Hiccup. Might as well go home and rest.”

“Come on Gobber I’ve been stuck in the house for days. I need to do something.” Hiccup groaned.

The large Viking laughed and shook his head. “Not until yer able to stand longer periods of time. All that sleeping took its toll on you. You know you get tired easily so just keep getting better. Besides you need to get that weight back. Ya look more like a sliver than a toothpick now.”

Hiccup sighed but didn’t bother to argue. He’d been scrawny before the battle and during his time unconscious he’d lost weight he couldn’t afford to drop. Sure his father and the village healer had taken care of him and kept giving me a broth while he was resting but he’d still lost too much eight and now he got tired too easily. It was dangerous…dangerous enough that he couldn’t even take Toothless flying in case he got too tired to make it back…which wasn’t fair to the Dragon. He sighed but left dutifully, too tired to argue.

“Come on Bud let’s go home.” Hiccup said as he left the shop and climbed up onto the Dragon’s back.

He didn’t want to admit it but he was already tired and didn’t think he could make it back to his house at the moment. Toothless carried him effortlessly past the people in the village, most greeting the Viking boy warmly if they noticed him, and up the steps to the larger home. Soon Hiccup found himself sitting on his bed which was still downstairs from where his father had moved it while he was recovering and let out a heavy sigh. Now what did he do? His eyes darted around the room looking for something to entertain himself with. He’d already opened the hatch in the roof for Toothless to come and go and cloudy sunlight filtered down, providing him with enough light to see comfortably.

His green gaze landed on a small bookshelf tucked into the corner of the room…practically forgotten by the members of the house. He stood and shuffled over the hand carved thing. It had been a gift to his mother from his father…and the books had belonged to her and Hiccup. Stoick wasn’t a reader…anyone knew that. Hiccup made a thoughtful noise as he fingered the spines of the hand bound tomes. There weren’t many but most had been written down by his mother. He had no real memories of her but some of the women spoke about how she’d go around and gather up legends and stories…histories of the village its people.

He pulled out one that was slim and tucked into a shadowed corner. His eyes roamed over the runes inside the first page and he made a thoughtful noise. Jokul Frosti…He took the book and one other to his bed and sat down at the edge. It took some small maneuvering and the diligent use of Toothless’ strength but finally a comfortable corner of the bed was in the sunlight and Hiccup sat back to read. His large Dragon stretched out next to the bed and made his comforting purr-like sound from where he lay. Hiccup settled himself down fully and began to read the stories his mother had left him. The young teenager was so enraptured by the story of the Ice Sprite that brought Winter that he was startled with his father let the door slam shut behind him.

“Hiccup, I was wondering where you were today.” Stoick said by way of greeting.

Hiccup offered a small nod. “Hey dad, just here…resting…”

The burly man nodded and he bustled about with a grumble of something or other. Hiccup watched his father before putting the book down and standing up. Stoick turned to look at the small Viking and offered a small tight smile. It pained him to see Hiccup’s leg…something he himself had caused in his stubborn arrogance. Something in his gaze must have betrayed his thoughts because Hiccup sighed as he moved across the room.

“Stop dad.” Hiccup said as he sat down at the table. “We’re Vikings it’s an…”

“Occupational hazard.” Stoick continued with a chuckle. He could remember when he himself used those words so frequently. “Ya, I know.”

Hiccup nodded with a grin as Toothless climbed up out of the roof hatch and disappeared off into the night. The smaller of the two stood and moved around the kitchen steadily, helping his father prep dinner. Usually they all ate in the great hall but tonight Stoick wanted a break from the villagers. Hiccup didn’t complain and the two found themselves sitting down and enjoying their simple meal. They spoke of their day and Stoick discussed the chaos the Dragons were causing. Hiccup frowned.

“There has to be a way to fix that.” He muttered behind his cup. “I mean, if we just learn to work with each other.”

Stoick sighed heavily. “You’ve got outlandish dreams again Hiccup.”

The auburn haired Viking pouted but didn’t protest and instead sighed before shaking his head. He figured out something to do…somehow.

xXx

Jack sped low over the ocean with a laugh as he raced onward. He was still getting used to controlling the wind even after nearly 50 years of this strange non-existence. Bright blue eyes glittered at the thought of his current destination. He was heading to one of his favorite places…Berk. It was a little island out in nearly nowhere surrounded by a number of minor islands but…it had something he’d never seen before in any of the other places he’d discovered. It had Dragons. And Vikings…but mostly Dragons. He’d been watching the Dragons and Vikings battle for so long that when he’d dropped by last month to give them the first chill of the season he’d been surprised to see them living together…mostly peacefully.

The Winter Spirit could see the islands just ahead and grinned before adding a burst of speed, shooting across the warm frothy waters below him. He jerked himself upward and launched into the sky, using the wind to summon clouds toward him. He was going to cover Berk in snow and he didn’t feel sorry in the least about it. His ever present smile graced his face and he hovered to watch his work for a few minutes. To anyone out this late it would have seemed a little odd for the weather to just change so dramatically.

The clouds over Berk thickened and slowly fat fluffy snowflakes began to drift down and dust across the buildings and ground. Winter had arrived. Hiccup mumbled in his sleep as he rolled over, once again upstairs in his room. He’d left the roof hatch open as always, allowing the snow to slowly land and melt in the heat that was lingering from the fire. A few of the powdery flakes survived long enough to land on his cheek and he scrunched his face in irritation before grassy green eyes opened and blinked groggily. The candle had long burned itself out, the book he had fallen asleep reading was on the floor where it’d fallen from his hand, and the room was dark save for the bits of moonlight peeking sporadically through the clouds.

Jack landed on the edge of the hatch and peered into the room looking for the Dragon that resided there. He’d been friends with Toothless before the whole damaged tail incident and so when he’d found out what had happened, it had been surprising. Of course the Dragons could see him while the people couldn’t and that was something Jack cherished. He kept returning to the Dragons in an attempt to become on decent terms with them…it had been a long road. The white haired immortal dropped down into the room and froze when Hiccup sat up yawning and rubbing his eyes. A relieved smile graced Jack’s face and he let out a soft sigh. He’d been watching Hiccup grow up with the others and took a liking to the auburn haired twig immediately when he showed signs of being different. The trolls and such…the fact that he believed in things that weren’t “normal” was what drew him to the boy. It drove him to protect Hiccup when he could…Hiccup’s innocence was the closest thing he’d ever gotten to being seen by a human since he’d woken up in that pond so many years ago.

“Good to see you’re awake finally.” Jack said with a nod. “We were worried about you. I heard about the whole, taking down the Queen. Very impressive.”

Hiccup yawned again and looked around as though confused. “Bud?”

As if summoned by the nickname, the Dragon crawled into the room, stopping to stare at Jack for a moment before letting out a purred greeting. Toothless had been wary of Jack for a while when they’d first met by accident, until the frost child had created targets and played with him…then he practically became a member of the group. Jack had even been to the nest a few times though he hadn’t gotten further than the beach. The heat from the volcano nearly took him out alone…that day was still a little hazy so Jack played it safe after that and only followed to the fog line.

“Hey there.” Jack greeted and Toothless responded with a higher cheerful noise of his own.

Hiccup frowned and looked to the empty space that Toothless was staring at. “What’s wrong Toothless?”

The Dragon turned and looked back at his human then crossed over to nudge Hiccup with his nose comfortingly. Hiccup smiled though a yawn and pet the Dragon before lying back down, trying to drift back to sleep. Jack watched them for a moment and was startled when Hiccup sat up suddenly, his eyes darting around as if looking for something.

“Toothless I’m getting that weird feeling that I’m being watched.” Hiccup muttered when the Dragon made a curious noise.

“Well there isn’t anyone here besides us.” Jack said conversationally as he moved around the room, looking at the changes that had taken place. “And it’s not like you know I’m here…” he added after a moment with a nervous laugh to cover the strange lurch in his heart at the thought.

Toothless turned to Jack and moved to stand beside him, nuzzling the cold hand with his nose and Hiccup frowned. All he could see was his Dragon moving his nose into the air.

“What are you doing Bud?” Hiccup asked quietly. “Am I still dreaming?”

The irritated look Toothless gave him was priceless and Hiccup slid the blanket from his legs then scooted to the edge of the bed. He stood shakily for a moment, his body still clinging to sleep, before crossing over to stand directly in front of Jack. Green eyes stared unseeing at the immortal and Jack sighed as if pained. Hiccup couldn’t see him…

“Toothless…what’s going on?” Hiccup asked, turning to look at the Dragon who seemed to be staring intently at nothing. “Is there something there?”

The auburn haired Viking lifted his hand and reached toward Jack but the immortal pulled away. He didn’t want to deal with the strange disorienting sensation of Hiccup’s hand passing through him again. Toothless made a small sound and Jack turned away before launching himself up into the night sky. Hiccup shivered at the sudden rush of cold air and his eyes widened.

“What was that?” he asked, staring up at the clouds and absently tracking the snow falling.

He turned to look at Toothless and the Dragon grumbled something before moving to make a bed of embers on his slab. Hiccup stared for a moment longer…he swore he’d felt something moving…The teen frowned and turned to go back to his own bed. Maybe he was still dreaming…

xXx

Early afternoon sun filled the village and Jack sat on the roof of the Great Mead Hall, watching the younger children as they screamed and laughed and raced around playing in the snow. The Winter Spirit stood and leapt from roof to roof down to the ground and grinned wickedly in joy. He moved his staff and summoned snowballs in various places before forming one in his hand. Bright blue eyes darted around curiously and Jack grinned when he caught sight of his target. The immortal pulled back and threw the snowball as hard as he could and cheered when it struck Hiccup in the shoulder, causing the thin fishbone teen to stumble stupidly, waving his arms slightly.

The Viking turned and peered at the kids running around before making a snowball of his own and throwing it at Fishlegs as the boy came from one of the buildings around them. Jack grinned and cheered again as a full-blown snowball fight erupted amongst the Dragons and Vikings in the plaza when the twins and Astrid showed up. The white haired male took a step back with a small laugh as he watched Hiccup and Toothless chase each other and the others around the area. Suddenly the Dragon stopped and turned toward Jack, staring at him with those too intelligent green-gold eyes. Hiccup slowed to a stop and frowned as the Dragon seemed to stare at nothing again.

“Toothless?” Jack questioned before sputtering in surprise when he was suddenly covered in snow.

Hiccup’s eyes widened as he stared at the sight in front of him. The snow was hovering! It rested in the creases and formed a loose image of a person…a person who had been suddenly covered in snow! He has been standing there watching his Dragon stare into space before using his tail to launch snow into the air…and when it fell…it landed on something…someone.

Jack shook the snow from him and scowled playfully before sending a blast of snow at the Dragon, forgetting momentarily that there was someone there…that Hiccup was there watching them. That is, until the Viking teen gasped and took a step back. Jack’s eyes darted over to the teen in question and fidgeted uneasily.

“W-who’s there?” Hiccup demanded quietly, not wanting to let the others playing behind them know that something was going on. “There is someone there right Toothless?”

The Dragon turned to look at Hiccup before nodding toward Jack. Hiccup frowned slightly but stepped forward and this time Jack didn’t run away. Instead he lifted his hand and summoned a small loosely packed ball of snow and tossed it gently at Hiccup catching the auburn haired boy in the chest and causing a soft explosion of powder like snow to fill the air on impact.

“Someone is there!” Hiccup said quietly, more to himself.

Jack snorted. “I’ve always been here…always been around.”

There was silence and Jack sighed when he realized that Hiccup still couldn’t hear him but he sort of knew that Jack was there at least. Green eyes stared at the ground in thought until movement caught his attention and he lifted his head to see a larger than normal snowflake form. It floated over to him and fell gently on his nose then disappeared. A jolt raced through Hiccup and he took a step back with an elated gasp. Was it possible?

The sound and movement that Hiccup made immediately sent red flags up in Jack’s mind. The immortal nearly instantly mistook the excitement for fear and shook his head. He couldn’t handle Hiccup being afraid of him. The confused spirit made a pained sound, to which Toothless responded with a noise of concern, before launching himself up into the air and shooting off away from the village.

“What?” Hiccup exclaimed at the sudden rush of wind and the flurry of snow that appeared.

Immediately his eyes darted to Toothless as the Dragon watched whatever it was disappear into the distance, his ears down and a sad look on his face. Hiccup stood in silence for a moment before letting out a startled noise when Astrid suddenly slung and arm over his shoulder.

“Geeze Hiccup you missed the war on Snotlout.” she said with a sunny laugh. “I think it would have been a game the spirit of winter himself would have been proud of.”

Hiccup frowned immediately. “What did you say?”

“We all teamed up against Snotlout?” Astrid repeated with a frown of her own.

“No the other part.” Hiccup muttered distractedly.

Astrid let out an irritated sound. “I said that it was a game even the spirit of winter would be proud of.”

Spirit of winter…The words chased themselves around in his head and suddenly it was like being struck by lightning. He hastily pulled away from Astrid and took off running toward his house with Toothless following him closely, yelling a half-assed apology of his shoulder at the startled blonde. Hiccup threw open the door to his house and didn’t bother to close it as he raced up the stairs toward the stack of books he knew sat beside his bed on the floor. Once he reached the stack he dropped to his knees and began to dig around of the one he was looking for.

“Yes!” he exclaimed as he found the slender tome. “It has to be him!”

Toothless watched in excited confusion as Hiccup sat down on the bed heavily and began flipping rapidly through the pages, his bright eyes skimming pages at lightning speed. Finally he made another noise of success and read then reread the page before marking it with his crude charcoal stick and turning to look at Toothless.

“Up for some flying Bud?” he asked with a grin.

xXx

The pond froze over slowly as Jack paced across the surface. His mind was racing and he let out a sigh before shooting blasts of ice into the wall of the cove. The same cove that Toothless and Hiccup had bonded in. The immortal growled and complained and scolded himself for his own stupidity before sinking down on the cold crystalline surface. He could feel the water beneath him churning and it brought little comfort. A gentle breeze caressed his face soothingly and scattered snow lightly over the frozen waters. Jack watched the snow for a moment before the sound of flapping wings caught his attention.

He looked up to see Toothless circling above him and suddenly the Dragon dove forward like a bullet, Hiccup letting out a startled yell in the process. Toothless landed with a heavy thud and immediately bounded over to Jack, using his claws to prevent himself from sliding across the thickening ice. Hiccup clung to his Dragon’s riding gear and cursed the sudden exhaustion that had hit him when they’d reached above the cove. But now his curiosity was piqued and he looked in the direction that Toothless was staring.

“Why are you here?” Jack asked with a scoff as he stood up and turned to walk away from the boy. He was in no mood to play imaginary games with Hiccup. “Go play with the people you can see.”

Hiccup cleared his throat. “You’re the Spirit of Winter aren’t you?”

The white haired man stopped and turned slowly to look back at Hiccup. The green eyes were darting around worriedly and Hiccup licked his lips in a habitual nervous manner.

“You’re still here aren’t you?” Hiccup tried again. “Toothless found you right? When you were at the village?”

Jack smiled and nodded even if Hiccup couldn’t see him. “Yes that was me. I’m the only one here who brings you snow.”

“Your name is Jokul Frosti isn’t it?” Hiccup called quietly, fidgeting with the book in his hand that Jack just took notice of.

“Jokul Frosti?” Jack repeated slowly and he shuddered for a moment as a strange feeling passed through him. The similarities were weird…

Hiccup shifted on the ice but didn’t move in fear of falling. “I’m not crazy right?”

Slowly Jack approached Hiccup and stood in front of him. Blue eyes roamed the youthful face and Jack sighed. “My name is Jack Frost.”

Hiccup canted his head to the side as if hearing something he couldn’t make out before letting out a low whistle. “Jack…Frost?”

The words were said slowly as the pronunciation wasn’t easy for the Viking. Jack felt frozen and stared with wide eyes. Hiccup just said his name! He looked at Toothless and the Dragon stared back at him.

“You said my name!” Jack exclaimed with a laugh and the wind picked up a little, lifting more snow around them. “Yes! I’m Jack Frost.”

“Was that right? Jack Frost?” Hiccup asked as he stepped forward.

A split second later his metal foot slid out from under him and the Viking was going down. Hiccup waved his arms around to try and regain his balance but he kept moving back toward the hard ice. He closed his eyes tightly, prepared for the painful landing but when it didn’t come he grasped at the cold thing supporting him. Jack’s arms shot out immediately to grasp the flailing teen and he was shocked when his hands didn’t pass through the Viking.

Instead his cold fingers caught and dug into warm soft skin and worn but equally warm clothing. As if in slow motion he pulled Hiccup up to him and stabilized the redhead. There was a long moment and slowly Hiccup opened his eyes. He was shocked to see a pair of bright blue, a shade of blue he’d never seen before, eyes watching him closely. He jerked back and it was only the other teen’s firm grip that prevented him from crashing down again.

“Are you all right Hiccup?” Jack asked carefully, not fully expecting an answer.

“Uh, yeah.” Hiccup said dumbly with a nod.

Jack’s eyes widened and he released Hiccup to leap back and away from him. “You heard me?”

Hiccup nodded slowly. “Yes.”

“C-can you see me?” Jack asked quietly.

Green eyes darted over his face taking in the details of the white hair and vibrant blue eyes. “Yeah.”

A feeling of pure elation came over Jack and a megawatt smile bloomed across his face. The immortal crossed the space between them and reached out with a shaking hand. Hiccup’s hand rose immediately and he grasped the cold outstretched fingers. Toothless watched the two with an amused glint in his eyes. Hiccup wobbled again and Jack grasped onto him, keeping him from falling.

“Let’s get you off the ice.” Jack said with a laugh.

Before Hiccup had a chance to say anything, Jack wrapped thin arms around him and leapt across to the snowy shore of the frozen lake. Toothless was right behind them and settled down into the snow as Jack released Hiccup to move a few steps back.

“Who are you?” Hiccup asked after a minute, leaning heavily against his Dragon.

Jack grinned. “Jack Frost. I’m the guy who brings you snow and fun!” The immortal laughed and ran a hand through his messy windswept hair. “I never thought anyone would ever see me.”

“No one sees you?” Hiccup asked quietly. “How can I?”

Jack frowned and sighed before sitting down in the snow, his staff resting just against his fingertips. Hiccup watched the different emotions flitting across the handsome face and settled down to listen to Jack’s story.

“You aren’t Jokul then who are you?” Hiccup asked again.

Jack sighed and ran a hand through his hair again. “Darkness.”

Hiccup frowned. “What?”

“Darkness. That’s the first thing I remember. It was dark, and it was cold…and I was scared.” Jack said quietly as he turned his gaze up toward the clouds drifting lazily by, thick with impending snow.

It was hard to Hiccup to imagine anyone like Jack to be afraid of anything. Even though he knew nothing about him he couldn’t help but feel like this man was a strong brave person…He watched Jack touch the staff by his side thoughtfully before turning back to Hiccup.

“But then…I saw the moon. It was so big and bright…and it chased the darkness away.” Jack continued after a long moment. “And I wasn’t scared anymore.”

“So that’s all you can remember?” Hiccup repeated.

Jack nodded. “That’s as far back as I can remember. The moon said my name was Jack Frost…and that’s all he’s ever said.”

“What do you remember next?” Hiccup pressed.

And slowly the immortal spoke, telling what he could of his tale; the gaps in his memory, the fact that no one had ever seen him other than the animals. He spoke about the village he’d visited and how the people had passed through him. Hiccup listened with rapt attention as Jack spoke about exploring and the tricks he’d played on people. The snow days he’d made. But the one thing that Hiccup took most notice of was the fact that Jack had always come back to Berk…it never failed.

“So then why keep coming back to Berk? I would have stayed away and kept exploring.” Hiccup muttered moodily before yawning.

Jack smiled and laughed. “I don’t know, maybe it’s the Dragons…maybe I can just practice my control…maybe the people keep bringing me back.”

“The…people?” Hiccup parroted slowly. “Why would we bring you back? We’re stubborn and violent.”

Jack laughed even louder and nodded. “I know! I don’t know why I keep coming back. But I do…I’ve seen a lot of things happen. Watched you grow up.”

That confession startled Hiccup and he immediately drew his eyes up from Toothless’ scales to look at the immortal. Jack seemed unaware of the comment, just saying whatever came to his mind. Another yawn caught Jack’s attention and he frowned and stood up.

“I forgot you were hurt recently.” he muttered guiltily as he stood up. “You should get some rest.”

Hiccup mumbled something finding himself too tired to argue. He climbed up onto Toothless’ back and turned to look at Jack for a moment. The blue eyed spirit stared back and offered another brilliant smile.

“Come back to the village?” Hiccup asked and then cursed himself inwardly.

That was a stupid thing to ask of the dead. He wanted to head-butt the nearest rock and see if his head would split open. He wasn’t as talented as his father to break one in two but…The sound of Jack agreeing caused Hiccup to swing around to face him quickly.

“What?” he asked dumbly.

Jack smiled that famous smile and laughed. “I said that I’ll come back. You can see me and feel me…I’m real to you and that’s something…important.”

Hiccup nodded before leaning down and patting Toothless on the shoulder. “All right Bud let’s go home.”

Toothless didn’t hesitate and launched skyward, Jack following immediately. Hiccup turned to look and was surprised to see Jack flying without a Dragon to help him. He laughed and shook his head.

“How do you do that?” he yelled over the wind.

Jack grinned teasingly as he moved closer. “I ask the wind and it helps me.”

Hiccup nodded and accepted it. He couldn’t wait to figure out what else Jack could do…and for a moment he felt like he’d had when he’d first found Toothless. It was his secret to keep…and it was something dangerous. And Hiccup found himself liking it.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimers: See first chapter
> 
> Pairings: Eventually there will be…but at the moment there aren’t
> 
> Rating: PG-13…for now…
> 
> Warnings: AU, language, horrible misrepresentation of Vikings, eventual smut, angst…delicious angst…use of the Jokul Frosti bandwagon
> 
> I’d like to thank HoneyBeeez and Christie for their wonderful reviews and being my first reviewers. There are some Jack feels and a hint at something else. If you like the story, then please leave a review and if you have any questions or concerns or even an idea then please don’t hesitate to message me.

The Dragons were becoming a problem. The complaints were numerous and the problems were even higher. Hiccup stood staring out over the village from the doors of the Great Mead Hall and made a thoughtful sound. He was charged with fixing the problems with the Dragons and now he was at a loss of what to do. Hiccup moved quietly down the stairs with Toothless following behind him and let his eyes dart around the village taking note of the problems. He’d much rather be off flying with Toothless and Jack right now…

It had been nearly three weeks since he’d met the Winter Spirit and during that time he and the immortal had become close friends. None of the others knew about Jack as far as either knew but they were okay with that. Jack was okay with it as long as Hiccup still could see him and hear him. And Hiccup was okay with it because it was another secret friend…something he could have that was all his own…save for the Dragons…but they didn’t count in the same levels. He continued to move through the village and came to a stop, staring across the expanse over at the old arena. He let out a sigh and tried to collect his thoughts.

“Hiccup what are we going to do?” Astrid asked as she approached the silent teen.

Hiccup made a small noise. “I don’t know but I have to think of something.”

The blonde stood and watched Hiccup for a moment as the teen suddenly smiled widely when a gust of wind came from nowhere and chilled them both. The wind ruffled Hiccup’s hair and a half-irritated half-amused look graced the Viking’s face as he rolled his eyes. It was strange to watch the different emotions on Hiccup’s face, as if he were reacting to something else…but they were normal reactions that others had when the wind messed up something…It was confusing and Astrid decided to push it aside for now.

"Well we have to come up with something soon.” Astrid said causing Hiccup to look at her over his shoulder.

Jack stood next to Hiccup, his hand lingering on the younger male’s arm just above the elbow. Hiccup had already grown used to the frequent cold touches and confirmations from Jack. It had been a bit of a struggle for them to adjust to each other…but if there was one thing Hiccup was good at…it was adjusting. Subtly he reached up and touched Jack’s fingers with his own, disguising the movement by crossing his arms casually.

“Something about what?” Jack prompted.

Hiccup sighed again and chose to answer Jack’s question indirectly. “I know Astrid. I’ll figure out how to help the Dragons live in peace with us and keep my father from banishing them. I just need some time to think.”

He hated to be short with the blonde but the stress was getting to him and he didn’t need her to keep reminding him of what was going on or what could end up happening. Surprised, she fell silent for a long moment and nodded slowly. She could tell when she needed to give the resident inventor/genius his space.

“If you need help we’ll be at the old catapult tower.” Astrid said after a moment or two, before turning and running off.

Jack made a thoughtful noise. “She seemed upset.”

Hiccup stared after Astrid and sighed before nodding and letting his arms drop. “Yeah she’ll probably punch me in the arm when she sees me again. Right now I have to figure out how to fix this mess with the Dragons.”

The immortal tilted his head to the side and frowned. “What’s the problem?”

Another heavy sigh was pulled from Hiccup and he began to explain the problems with the Dragons, his father putting him in charge of fixing the problem, and his complete and utter failures since. Jack smiled and leaned against his staff as the Viking ranted, pacing back and forth through the thick snow.

“Hiccup they’re animals not one of your inventions or even people who can be reasoned with.” Jack commented causing the teen to stop and face him. “They have thousands of years of instinct working in them. It’s like man against nature. You can’t fight a sea storm or a blizzard can you?”

Hiccup was silent for a long moment before his green eyes lit up. _That’s it._ Jack thought. _Use that brain of yours Hic and figure it out._ Hiccup turned to face Toothless as the Dragon strolled leisurely towards them and stared at his best friend for another long period of time clearly thinking over something. Toothless tilted his head to the side and made a curious sound before sitting next to Jack.

“Don’t fight against nature.” Hiccup mumbled before his eyes widened in understanding. “Jack you’re brilliant!”

The Winter Spirit laughed and shook his head. “I didn’t do anything.”

Hiccup grinned and hurried over to Toothless. “Come on Bud we’re going to the old arena!”

Toothless nodded and allowed Hiccup to climb up onto him before shooting up into the air. Jack tightened his grip on his staff and took to the air after them. They flew down to the arena that had been abandoned since he Dragons moved into Berk and looked around. Toothless stood reluctantly outside of the gates until Hiccup managed to convince him to come back in.

“Mind explaining why we’re here?” Jack asked as he wandered around the circular building.

He’d seen it countless times but flying over and being inside it were two completely different things. He examined the deep gashes in the walls and floor caused by Dragon claws and old scorch marks from the fights. Toothless made an unpleasant sound, similar to when he saw eels, and hung near the gate. Jack turned to the Dragon and offered a smile.

“What if we use this to teach people how to handle the Dragons?” Hiccup suggested.

Jack turned toward him. “Teach people? What do you mean?”

The grin grew in size and threatened to practically split Hiccup’s face in two if it got any wider. “I mean, like a Dragon Academy! Teach the Vikings how to use a Dragon’s natural abilities for everyday use!”

“Hiccup that’s brilliant!” Jack exclaimed as he leapt over to the Viking. “I knew you’d figure it out!”

The auburn haired boy blushed lightly and turned away, clearing his throat as he did so. He took a few steps into the center of the arena before turning to look at Jack and offering a smile.

“It was you who helped me.” Hiccup confessed after a moment.

Blue eyes widened in surprise. “Me?”

Hiccup nodded and before he had a chance to elaborate a voice cut him off.

“Hiccup!”

He and Jack immediately turned to see Astrid run into the arena with Stormfly hot on her heels. Hiccup didn’t think to warn Jack or Astrid…he’d forgotten that she couldn’t see the immortal, just assuming she’d run around him…and he was shocked when Astrid ran right through Jack. Jack gasped in pain and stumbled back as she passed through him. The painful and disorienting look on the white haired man’s face froze Hiccup down to his core. Jack wavered for a moment and one hand reached out blindly fumbling for something before curling in against his chest as though his heart was hurting. Was that…was that what always happened?

Hiccup moved to take a step toward the other when Astrid grabbed onto his arm bringing his attention back to her. “Astrid, what are you doing here?”

She frowned. “That’s what I was coming to ask you. I saw you and Toothless fly over here so I came to see what you were doing. No one has used this place in months.”

“I’ve decided to use the arena.” Hiccup answered though his eyes kept darting over to look at Jack as Toothless and Stormfly circled around the pained man.

Astrid turned to look at her Dragon when she made a concerned noise with Toothless. “What are they doing?”

“Like I said, I’m using the arena to train Dragons.” Hiccup said quickly causing Astrid to look back at him.

“Have you asked your father if we can use this?” she prompted with a frown as she put her hands on her hips.

Hiccup’s expression became one of confusion and his hands moved wildly as he spoke. “What? We? No I haven’t asked yet. Wait a minute what do you mean we?”

She looked surprised for a moment before she started laughing. The blonde nearly doubled over in the snow as she continued to laugh and Hiccup couldn’t help but feel irritated. Here she was laughing hysterically while Jack was a few feet away in pain.

“Hiccup I’m not going to make you do this by yourself you know.” Astrid said as she shook her head and stood up straight.

Hiccup watched her brush her blonde bangs from her face and nodded slightly before his eyes darted over to the Dragons. Toothless was staring off into the distance and his ears were down against his skull. There was no Jack to be seen at all.

“So we’re going to train people and Dragons here?” Astrid asked as she looked around with a grin on her face. “It’ll be awesome. Fishlegs’ll be a big help with what he knows…and you can teach us all other stuff.”

“Yeah, I think it’ll really work.” Hiccup agreed. “Now we just have to get the Dragons here so I can show you guys the basics and we’ll see how I handle teaching people.”

Astrid nodded in agreement. “I’ll go gather the others. You wait here Hiccup! We’ll be right back!”

Before he could say anything she turned and raced out of the arena, calling for Stormfly over her shoulder. The blue bird like Dragon rushed after her and once Astrid was secured on her back the pretty Dragon took to the sky. Hiccup sighed and turned to look at Toothless when the Dragon approached him and nudged his hand with his nose. The fifteen year old absently rubbed the warm scales before sighing again.

“I hope Jack’s okay.” he said worriedly. “I’ve never seen him do that before…but I’ve never actually seen someone walk through him. Once we finish here we’ll go find him.”

Toothless made a noise of agreement as the others arrived with their Dragons and Astrid leading the way. She leapt from the back of her Dragon and grinned excitedly…the same grin she’d had when they’d be fighting off Dragons…one that made Hiccup’s heart flutter…once. He frowned at the realization but shook his head to dismiss the thought. He had more important things to worry about right now and that was the possibility of losing his best friend to his father’s temper.

 

xXx

 

“Jack!”

Hiccup squinted through the steadily failing light and the snow that began to fall around him. He’d been searching for almost an hour already and hadn’t seen a sign of the immortal anywhere. Green eyes turned skyward and Hiccup frowned. It had started snowing heavily shortly after Jack had flown off…so the Viking came to the conclusion that the winter weather reacted to Jack’s emotions.

“Jack!” he yelled again, peering down at the terrain below them. “We’ve got to hurry Toothless.”

The Dragon nodded slightly and picked up his speed, shooting forward like a silent bullet. They circled around the cove and Hiccup peered down into the semi-darkness as best as he could before sighing. Where was Jack? Had the Spirit left Berk entirely? If he did he was in for an ass kicking.

“That bastard had better not have left without saying goodbye first.” Hiccup said angrily before frowning. “Wait…come on Bud turn around. I think I know where he is.”

Toothless turned without hesitation and flew back toward the village. As they approached the house Hiccup pointed down to the roof. There sitting on the edge of the hatch was a figure in brown and white. Toothless landed heavily on the roof and Hiccup carefully slid down to where the immortal sat in silence.

“Jack!” he called.

Slowly Jack’s head lifted from where he was sitting, curled up protectively with his knees to his chest and his arms locked tightly around them his face pressed against the tops of his knees. Large blue eyes blinked slowly before focusing on the Viking sliding toward him. Hiccup reached the edge but his prosthetic didn’t catch properly where Jack was sitting and Hiccup fell forward.

“Hiccup!” Immediately Jack reached out with his staff and hooked it around Hiccup’s waist. “Really, I can’t keep saving you like this.” he teased as he pulled the teen toward him on the ledge.

Jack kept his grip on Hiccup until the other boy managed to get settled down safely beside him. Toothless watched from above them and once he was certain that Jack would keep his human safe he settled down, tail swaying slightly against the tiles. The snow had lessened considerably and Hiccup let out a soft sigh before turning his gaze toward the boy next to him.

“Are you okay?” he asked quietly.

Jack glanced over from the corner of his eyes and then sighed before shifting uneasily. “I’m okay.”

Hiccup was silent for a brief moment before he spoke again. “Does that always happen?”

“It hasn’t happened in a long time. I usually keep enough distance between me and everyone else.” Jack said quietly. “I guess I wasn’t paying close enough attention…you can see me and touch me…I sort of forgot that the others couldn’t.”

The silence filled the air between them and Hiccup stared up at the sky as the clouds drifted away and left a clear sky that was slowly darkening as the sun sank further and further beyond the horizon. The auburn haired male glanced over at his friend and frowned.

"Did I…ever do that?” Hiccup asked slowly after a moment. “Did I ever pass through you?”

Jack looked startled and then frowned as he seemed to think back. Hiccup watched in an anxious silence and finally Jack met his gaze. The Viking’s heart skipped a beat oddly as Jack watched him for a long moment.

“No, I’ve never put myself in that situation.” Jack said solemnly.

Immediately Hiccup decided he didn’t like the somber look on Jack’s face. He wasn’t sure where this thought came form or why it was so imperative for him to dislike the expression. He wanted to see the boy smiling and he needed to see that smile now. He’d analyze and dissect his feelings and thoughts later. Without warning he reached out and grabbed onto a pale long fingered cold hand. Jack jerked his head back to Hiccup form where he’d been staring off into space before looking down at their hands. Tanned hands traced over the lines in the smooth skin before poking his palm with a grin and rough work hardened fingers.

“I see you.” he said with a smile.

Jack stared at him for a moment before a huge smile appeared, making his whole demeanor brighten up. He laughed and shook his head before looking down at their hands again. The two were so different yet so similar it was startling. Hiccup’s hands were tanned and warm…long clever fingers tapped against Jack’s pale cold hands. After some time of comfortable silence the peace was broken by Stoick calling for Hiccup. Jack hooked his staff around the teen and lowered him quickly into the house then followed with Toothless. The Chief wanted an update on the Dragon situation.

 

xXx

 

It was dark everywhere and the silence was close to deafening but he wasn’t scared. In fact he didn’t really feel much of anything. He stood in this strange dark place alone until something shattered that.

"He’s going to be dangerous soon enough.”

“Yes, we need to destroy him now.”

There was a dark laugh and Hiccup shuddered in cold fear. “Destroy his soul by removing the most important thing from him. He’s caused problems for too long now.”

“Yes, break his soul.”

Hiccup panicked. Someone was in danger and he didn’t know who but he knew it was someone important. He felt as though he were flying suddenly, the dark speeding past him. There was the laughter of children and a voice calling out something but he couldn’t make out what it was. More laughter and a worried motherly voice saying something. He needed to understand what this was!

“Yes now is our time. Destroy him!”

 

xXx

 

"No!” Hiccup sat up gasping for air, his yell echoing in the house.

There was movement downstairs and slowly a small light appeared. “Hiccup?”

“M’okay dad.” Hiccup called back, panting heavily. “Just…just a bad dream.”

Stoick stood for a moment longer and Hiccup reassured him that things were fine. Reluctantly the large man went back to bed and the teen found himself sitting in darkness. Toothless climbed up onto the narrow bed with him and purred comfortingly. Hiccup offered a shaky smile and reached out to pet his Dragon.

“What was that?” he asked with a frown. “It was so strange.”

Toothless nudged his hand and Hiccup let out a heavy sigh. He couldn’t remember what exactly he’d been dreaming about but he could still feel the lingering panic in his chest. Green eyes darted around the room and he nodded slowly. Nothing was out of place and if something was there that didn’t need to be Toothless would have already been dealing with or already dealt with it. After a few more minutes reassuring himself that things were all right he lay back down and drifted off to sleep once more.

Blue eyes watched him from the shadows for a long moment before Jack stood up. He was silent his expression grim. Toothless turned, teeth bared in warning until he realized who was in his human’s room. The Dragon relaxed and his ears drooped sleepily before he lay back down beside Hiccup; resting his head on the Viking’s hip. Jack met Toothless gaze and the Dragon nodded slightly in understanding. Neither knew what Hiccup had been dreaming about…he’d told someone to run in his fitful sleep before waking up yelling. It worried the immortal but he chose to do nothing for now. He’d simply watch over the boy he’d become friends with and if anything happened he’d go from there.

Jack climbed up onto the rafter beam and settled down for a pointless sleep. He didn’t need to sleep or eat or do anything remotely human but sometimes he liked to…it made him feel things he’d forgotten…things he couldn’t put a name to.

 

xXx

 

Astrid watched Hiccup with a frown on her face. He was distracted…and kept staring off into space and she picked up a feeling of worry coming from him. It had been happening for days. Finally she sighed and crossed over to the Viking.

“Hey Hiccup!” she called causing him to jerk slightly.

He turned to look at her and blinked owlishly. “Astrid?”

“What’s going on Hiccup?” Astrid asked as she crossed her arms.

Fishlegs was working with Ruff, Tuff, and Snotlout in the background. Something about how many shots and which Dragons would be best suited for which jobs. The two weren’t really paying attention honestly.

Hiccup brought his attention back to Astrid when she leaned closer. “What?”

“Hiccup!” she snapped in irritation. “What is going on with you?”

“Nothing.” Hiccup answered immediately. “Nothing is going on with me.”

She scowled at him. “Don’t expect me to believe that. You’ve been off all day. More so than usual. So what’s going on? Did your dad say something about us using the Academy. He did give it to us so what’s the problem?”

Hiccup puffed his cheeks slightly and let out a defeated sigh. “I’m just…missing something.”

“Missing something?” Astrid asked with a frown. “What are you missing?”

“Just something.” Hiccup answered with a vague wave of his hand.

“Hiccup.” Astrid said softly, pulling his attention even more. “I’m just worried about you. You’re acting weird…like when you were hiding Toothless from all of us. I’m here for you Hiccup so please if you need something or want to talk or whatever I’m here.”

Hiccup was in a silent shock as he stared at the concerned expression on the blonde’s face. He nodded slowly and put his hand on her shoulder, giving it a small comforting squeeze with a crooked smile.

“Hey, Astrid, if something happens I’ll tell you first.” he offered.

Astrid lifted her head and offered a small smile of her own before punching Hiccup in the arm. The teen made a pained sound and rubbed his arm with a scowl. “That’s for making me worried.”

Hiccup rolled his eyes and made a dismissive motion with his hand, shooing the girl away. “Yeah, yeah, go help Fishlegs I think Snotlout and the Twins are ganging up on him.”

She laughed and jogged over to the others, easily calming down the chaos. Hiccup watched after her for a moment before turning slightly when a familiar cold breeze rushed through the arena. Moments later a welcoming laugh was heard and Jack landed beside Hiccup, his hand immediately reaching out to touch the teen’s wrist.

“I found you.” Jack said with a grin.

Hiccup smiled and tilted his head to the side, glancing at Jack. “I see you.”

Jack chuckled and turned his attention to the others trying to work with the Dragons. “Still trying to train the hopeless I see.”

Hiccup snorted in amusement. “Yeah we are. We’re sure that Snotlout and the Twins will get better…eventually. But they are better riders than the others in the village and when we need them they’re there.” He glanced over to look at Jack and made a small noise when Toothless bounced toward them excitedly. “Sometimes I think he’s happier to see you than me.”

Jack grinned roguishly as he scratched the warm scales behind Toothless’ ears. “Of course he is. We happen to be good friends.”

“I know.” Hiccup answered with a grin of his own.

Before Jack had a chance to say anything, Astrid called for Hiccup and the genius excused himself quietly then made his way over to the group, Jack and Toothless following silently. The immortal leaned lazily against the black Dragon and watched the riders as they discussed various things and went about making more plans on how to get the Dragons to help them. Toothless settled down in boredom and Jack slid down to the ground beside him. He leaned against the Dragon’s side and Toothless allowed himself to curl around the cold boy partially. His eyes grew heavy and soon Jack was dozing lightly, safely tucked against Toothless’ side but still exposed so as not to get over heated.

They’d discovered what happened when the Winter Spirit got too close to the forge. He had been stubborn and stayed too close to the fire just to talk to Hiccup. Two hours later the immortal was slurring his words as though he’d gotten into mead and subsequently hit the floor in a pile of pale sweat covered lanky limbs. After a not-so-mild freak out session Hiccup banished him to the windowsill after that. It had been rather comical for the Night Fury who sat by watching when Jack recovered, flushing a purple-ish color in embarrassment.

“All right I think that’s all we can do for now.” Hiccup decided after nearly three hours of working with the others and showing them how to work with their Dragons.

“Finally.” Tuff complained as Ruff nodded.

Snotlout rolled his eyes and climbed up onto Hookfang. “Come on lets go do stuff.”

The three left leaving Astrid with Hiccup and their Dragons and a sleeping Jack. The blonde girl turned to look at Hiccup and nodded slightly.

“I think it’s going well. And we’ve got the Dragons helping us do so much that we end up with some time to just do whatever.” Astrid said after a moment.

Hiccup nodded. “Yeah we have. But we’ve got a lot to do with rebuilding and making ships and growing stuff.”

Astrid nodded in agreement. “And we still get that done a lot faster.”

“Yeah that’s true.” Hiccup glanced around the arena and did a double take when he saw Jack and Toothless sleeping near them.

Astrid followed his line of sight and smiled. “He must be tired.”

“Yeah he didn’t sleep much I don’t think.” Hiccup answered.

"Was he out last night?” Astrid asked as she moved to stand beside the other teen.

Hiccup nodded. “Yeah all night.”

“Poor Toothless. He must have been really tired then if he was out all night and then most of today.” she mused.

Poor Tooth—Hiccup blinked rapidly when his might caught up to what was going on. He and Astrid were having two completely different conversations. She thought he was talking about his Dragon when in reality he’d been talking about Jack…who she couldn’t see. Inwardly Hiccup cursed himself over and over again. He kept forgetting that she didn’t see him…and he shouldn’t have. Not after the incident just the other day.

“Yeah, poor Toothless.” Hiccup agreed with a mutter.

“Are you going to wake him up?” Astrid asked as Stormfly stopped behind her and nudged her with her nose. “Hang on Stormfly.”

Hiccup shrugged slightly. “Maybe in a bit…I might stay here with him for a bit. Gonna think about what else we can cover and how to get the other villagers involved.”

Astrid nodded and smiled at Stormfly when she nudged the human again. “All right come on. See you later Hiccup.”

He waved and watched the two girls leave. A noise caught his attention and he turned to look at Toothless. The Dragon’s eyes were opened and watching him thoughtfully. Hiccup smiled and walked over to the two on the floor and rubbed Toothless’ nose when he lifted his head.

“Hey Bud, you’ve got a growth.” Hiccup said quietly.

Toothless turned his head and blinked at Jack who continued to sleep peacefully. Hiccup moved over and crouched down in front of his friend before reaching out to shake the other boy’s shoulder.

“Hey, come on Jack wake up.” he called, continuing to shake the pale boy. “We have to leave the arena or I’m gonna leave you here.”

Jack stirred slightly and opened his eyes slowly. The confusion clouded those rare blue hues and Hiccup blinked surprised.

“Mm Hic?” Jack asked in a mumbled and rough voice. “What’s going on?”

The Viking shook himself slightly and offered an amused smile. “You fell asleep. Come on Jack we’re going back to my house.”

Slowly Jack sat up and pat Toothless in a thankful manner and the Dragon chirped in response. The two got to their feet and Jack shook himself slightly before adjusting his brown partial cloak and using his foot to kick his staff into his hand. Hiccup reached out and grabbed Jack’s elbow when the slightly taller male shook himself again.

“M’okay.” Jack said as he rubbed his eye.

Hiccup canted his head to the side and released the thin arm from his grip. “I thought you didn’t need sleep.”

“I don’t.” Jack confirmed. “But sometimes it’s nice to sleep…makes me feel better I think.”

“Come on guys, let’s go back home.” Hiccup said with a nod.

Jack looked up startled, watching Hiccup and Toothless walk away toward the gate. Home?


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimers: See first chapter
> 
> Pairings: Eventually there will be…but at the moment there aren’t  
> Rating: PG-13…for now…  
> Warnings: AU, language, horrible misrepresentation of Vikings, eventual smut, angst…delicious angst…use of the Jokul Frosti bandwagon
> 
> Notes: Some more Jack in this one

Bare feet practically danced across the roof tops as snow fell gently down from the wispy clouds. Blue eyes darted and Jack grinned at the sight.  Bright white moonlight filtered down gently over the homes of the village and for a moment Jack stopped and stared at the perfect pearl-like moon. He felt a twinge of pain in his chest and he silently pleaded for the Moon to say something…anything to him. He sighed and turned away, dragging his staff behind him, freezing clotheslines solid. The villagers were scurrying in the dark, afraid of what they didn’t know and Jack scowled angrily. They had nothing to fear but they were foolish and didn’t see him. He needed to get out of this place…it stank with familiarity and a suffocating feeling of something…like he needed to remember something desperately but couldn’t.

“Time to go.” Jack muttered to himself with a smile. “Come on wind let’s get out of here! Back to Berk.” And back to Hiccup and Toothless.

He crouched down, ready to call the wind when a laugh filled the air as a child in the village screamed in fear and dove into her mother’s skirts. It was dark and sinister and Jack froze briefly before raising just enough to stand straight. His gaze darted around in the shadows for the answer and turned quickly when he felt a presence behind him.

“Well, well, Jack Frost.”

Jack’s eyes narrowed. “Pitch Black.”

He wasn’t familiar with the much older immortal but he knew enough about him to be wary. He’d heard the rumors from other sprites and refused to be caught up in the dark man’s mind games. Pitch stared down at Jack for a moment with a small sneer.

“What do you want Pitch?” he asked icily.

Pitch curled his lip in disgust. “And where are you running off to with such a stupid expression on your face?”

Immediately Jack was defensive, bristling like a cat. “Why does it matter? When has the man under the bed cared about what others are doing?”

“You flatter yourself Frost.” Pitch stated as he glanced upward toward the moon. “Silent as ever is he?”

Jack couldn’t help himself and his eyes darted up toward the moon before he scowled. “The moon is always silent.”

“Yes,” Pitch agreed with a small twisted grin. “He’s always done that, never there to give answers to his newest creations.”

Jack whipped around to face the shadowed being, his staff raised angrily. “What?”

“Oh,” Pitch mused not sounding at all concerned. “I believe I said too much. But you were leaving weren’t you? Something about…Berk was it? Has the Dragon boy been sleeping well? Or has he even woken up from that…fall…”

Bright blue eyes darkened in anger and Jack leapt into the air, the wind catching him immediately and shooting him off into the distance. Pitch watched with a dark amused smile, feeding off the concern and fear coming from the Winter immortal. Oh yes, he knew what sort of game he was playing and it was one he excelled at. Jack flew as fast as he could, his mind racing and heart beating wildly in his chest. If Pitch did anything to the villagers, especially Hiccup or his father, there would be hell to pay.

 

xXx

 

Hiccup wiped the sweat from his brow and squinted out into the harsh sunlight from his dim workspace when he felt a chill race down his back. It was unusual to feel anything cold when working next to a hot fire all day. He turned his attention to Toothless who lifted his head from his claws and stared upward, ears perked and alert. The auburn haired teen set the hammer down and turned fully. What was Toothless looking at now?

“Hiccup!” Astrid called as she landed with Stormfly. “There’s a huge storm coming! We’ve got to hurry and get everyone in the Hall.”

“A storm?” Hiccup questioned, stepping out of the forge and looking skyward. “It’s been sunny for days.”

The blonde nodded in understanding. “I know but Gothe is saying a storm and you know how the others get when she says anything.”

“She doesn’t talk ever…she doesn’t say anything.” Hiccup turned his grassy green gaze toward the sky once more and made a thoughtful noise before nodding. “Gimme a few minutes and I’ll help you. Where’s Gobber?”

“With your dad getting things sealed up. It’s supposed to be a bad one…the first real freeze of the season.” Astrid answered with a frown. “We’ve been lucky to have this much sun the past few days.”

“Right…” Hiccup trailed off with a shrug as Astrid and Stormfly flew off.

He didn’t want to go into the topic of sun and such. As much as he liked it…he felt a little biased now, knowing that Jack was the cause of their winters and that the spirit thought of Berk as a safe haven. Of course Jack had been gone the last few days…again…and it concerned the Viking. Hiccup went through the mindless motions of cleaning things up, his thoughts on Jack. Yes he knew that the spirit could take care of himself, that’s not why he was worried, no he was worried that Jack would leave and decide that he’d found a new special place…and never come back. The teen couldn’t find a justifiable reason to be afraid of Jack never coming back but it was there and Hiccup would just have to deal with it.

He finished up his cleaning and pulled his shirt back on over his skinny torso after he dropped the apron and gloves onto a small stool near the anvil. Toothless sat watching him and Hiccup hurried out, swinging up into the saddle with practiced ease. He and the other riders went through the village and surrounding areas, gathering up villagers and the animals and getting them into the safety of the Great Mead Hall. In a surprisingly short amount of time, thick clouds blocked out the sun and snow began to fall rapidly. Hiccup stood at the top of the steps staring into the night like clouds wondering. Was Jack coming? And if he was…why was he upset?

“Hiccup!” Stoick yelled from within the protected Hall. “Get in here!”

Hiccup waved a hand. “In a second dad! I’m making sure everyone’s inside.”

He could hear Stoick grumbling angrily as he moved toward the doors to drag his son in by the scruff of his neck if he had to. As the large man reached the door and extended his hand, Hiccup shot forward and began to run down the stairs through the near blinding snow.

“Hiccup, get back here!” Stoick yelled before turning his attention to Toothless and pointing after the running fishbone. “Go get him Toothless.”

The Dragon immediately shot forward down the stairs, bounding after his human playfully. They ran through the village, Hiccup chasing after something he thought he saw, and Toothless chasing Hiccup. The boy slowed to a stop and frowned through the overwhelming whiteness around him. Hadn’t he seen someone? Hiccup ran a hand through his messy hair even as the wind buffeted around him, threatening to knock him down into the quickly growing piles of snow on the ground. And then without warning he was knocked over, when a solid body collided into him sending him back into a snow bank with a yelp of surprise and fear. Toothless instantly snarled and lunged only to stop and stare at the sight curiously.

Jack was hovering over Hiccup, his knees planted firmly on either side of the boy, staring worriedly down at him. “Hiccup!”

“J-Jack?” Hiccup asked with a heavy wheeze as cold hands grabbed his face. “What’s going on?”

Blue eyes, clouded with worry scanned the human’s face, pale hands tilting it back and forth as their owner pleased. Hiccup was silent and still under Jack as the storm suddenly stopped around them and the snow hung in air oddly as if time itself had stopped and gravity no longer mattered. His hand came up to nudge the other male off of him and froze when he could feel Jack’s heart beating wildly in his chest.

“You’re all right.” Jack said after a moment, sitting back onto his heels but not getting off of Hiccup entirely.

Hiccup frowned at the statement, sitting up when he was allowed to. “Of course I’m okay. What’s wrong Jack?”

“It’s nothing.” Jack muttered after a moment, reaching out to run his hand through Hiccup’s hair and dislodge the snow that had collected there. His blue eyes darted around from Toothless to the snow and then finally back to Hiccup, where he settled slightly, reaching out to touch the boy’s wrist. “I…I found you.”

There was something seriously wrong with this and Hiccup’s frown deepened but he returned the routine gesture by grabbing Jack’s hand, pressing his thumb into the pale boy’s palm. “I see you.”

A smile slowly appeared on Jack’s face and he stood then offered his hand to the boy in the snow. Hiccup grasped the offered appendage and allowed himself to be pulled to his foot. He looked around for a moment and grinned.

“Jack, you’ve really gotta control yourself.” Hiccup teased.

“What?” Jack blinked for a moment before turning to look around them at the snow hanging in the air and the high banks on the ground. His lips twitched and then his smile widened. “Snow day.”

Hiccup laughed and shook his head. “More like snow days. It’ll be forever before all this stuff melts.”

“More fun for the kids.” Jack commented casually with a shrug of his shoulders.

Spring green eyes met winter blue and the two stared for a moment before Hiccup became seriously and squared his slim shoulders. “Jack, tell me what happened. Something made you upset, what was it?”

Jack looked around for a moment and shook his head. “Not here.”

“Not here?” Hiccup asked with another frown. “What—“

“Hiccup!” Stoick’s voice boomed over the plaza and Hiccup flinched before turning slowly to look at the man storming through the snow toward him.

Jack snickered behind him as the chief began chastising the boy for his foolishness in charging out into a raging storm and everything else that went with it, even as Hiccup tried to explain that he thought he’d seen someone out wandering around in the cold. Stoick groaned, holding Hiccup off the ground with ease by the back of his shirt, and gave Gobber a look. The blond man returned it with a toothy grin and Jack blinked when Hiccup suddenly turned a serious gaze on him. One that said rather clearly he hadn’t gotten out of telling whatever had been bothering him.

Jack sighed and looked away, unable or unwilling, to continue to meet Hiccup’s gaze. “The cove then.”

Hiccup made a noise of understanding subtly, watching as Jack took off toward their not-so-secret-but-totally-secret place, and waited until his father put him down before running off, Toothless following him loyally. The teen turned and swung up onto the Dragon’s back once they reached a safe enough distance away. They were in the air seconds later and flying low toward the cove where Jack was waiting. When they landed Hiccup glanced around and found Jack standing in the middle of the frozen pond again. Toothless stayed on the shore staring at the dark ice…it wasn’t thick enough to stand on meaning Jack had landed in the middle and stayed there. Clearly he wanted space…and Hiccup would give it to him.

He stood at the edge of the icy waters and stared over at the Winter Spirit curiously. Jack was walking in circles and muttering to himself and it seemed he hadn’t noticed their arrival yet. Snow had started falling again and Hiccup frowned. Was Jack getting upset again or was it just snowing because?

“Jack?” he called, canting his head to the side slightly.

Blue eyes lifted and Jack stared for a moment before sighing and waving his staff toward Hiccup causing a burst of cold air to slam into him, freezing a path across the water and part of the Viking’s hair. Hiccup made an indignant noise before running his hands through his hair and then carefully making his way across the icy bridge toward the large ice platform in the water. When he arrived he kept his gaze trained on his friend and frowned as Jack continued to mutter.

“What’s going on Jack?” Hiccup asked with a frown. “What was with the storm and then crashing into me?”

After a few minutes of silence, Jack sighed again. “I was just worried about you.”

Hiccup frowned. “Why?”

“Stop frowning.” Jack stated after a moment. “You’ve been doing that a lot lately.”

“Then tell me why you were worried about me. It’s not like there are many things that threaten us anymore….except for other Tribes and well that’s that.” Hiccup said with a small useless gesture of his hand.

Jack sighed and looked away feeling rather foolish at the thoughts he was having. “Pitch Black.”

Hiccup stopped ranting and turned to his friend. “Pitch Black?”

“He’s a boogeyman, calls himself the Nightmare King.” Jack continued quietly. “I don’t normally see him but last night I ran into him and he said something that made me worried. Pitch likes to torment people and he forces their dreams into nightmares…he was probably messing with my head when he asked about you.”

“About me?” Hiccup asked softly. That was a bit disturbing to be honest.

Jack nodded though kept his gaze directed toward the ground, wiggling his toes absently against the ice. “Asked if you’d been sleeping well.”

Hiccup nodded. As far as he knew he’d been fine except that one night…but that had been days ago when Jack was still around. “No nightmares here.”

Bright blue eyes peered through thick lashes for a moment and Jack nodded slowly. “Good then. Maybe he was just trying to mess with my head after all.”

“But you were that worried about me?” Hiccup asked with a teasing grin, motioning toward the clouds still thick with impending snow above them.

Jack flushed purple and shook his head. “No you dolt. I wasn’t worried at all. I had to come make sure Toothless wasn’t worried.”

Hiccup turned to look at the Dragon sitting on his haunches staring across at them, his ears perked and at attention. Toothless shifted restlessly, not willing to risk crossing the narrow ice bridge to them. Jack smiled and with a little more fancy staff work he froze the rest of the water. The Dragon didn’t hesitate and bounded over immediately, claws gripping the ice to keep from sliding. Hiccup laughed when Toothless slid to a stop between them and turned, nudging Hiccup and then Jack with his nose in greeting.

"Hey Toothless.” Jack greeted with a welcoming rub to his head. “How you been buddy?”

Toothless made some sort of pleased noise in his throat and bounced around the two joyfully before settling down at the two turned their attention back to each other. Hiccup offered his usual crooked grin and Jack flashed his bright smile. Things were going to be okay.

 

xXx

 

“Hey Jack?”

“Hm?” The Winter Spirit opened his eyes and blinked up at the sky before turning his head slightly to look at Hiccup.

The two were in the cove lying on their backs with their heads beside each other, their feet in opposite directions…Jack’s pointing North and Hiccup’s pointing South. It was a quiet day in the village and neither really was worried about anything. Toothless was sleeping soundly nearby and Hiccup didn’t have anything to do in the shop. So the two were content to do…well, nothing. Hiccup met his gaze and there was a moment of silence before the Viking rolled onto his side, propping his head up with his hand. Jack followed suit and blinked curiously.

“You’ve been all over the world right?” Hiccup asked.

Jack nodded. “Pretty much. Some places are nice but some are horrible. Like Egypt…it’s too hot there.”

Hiccup frowned at the strange word but didn’t try to even pronounce it. He merely shook his head and sighed before plopping back onto his back to stare up at the lazy clouds floating past. The snow around them wasn’t too high, having slowly been melting over the past few days since Jack’s freak-out session. There hadn’t been anymore nightmares or talk about the weird shadow man. It was almost as if Jack’s encounter with him hadn’t even happened.

“Why?” Jack asked after a moment.

“I want to leave Berk.”

“What?” Jack sat up and turned to face the Viking with wide eyes.

Hiccup blinked several times and sat up as well. “No not like that. I mean, I want to go out there and explore. Find other islands…more Dragons…not leave, leave Berk.”

Jack eyed him skeptically but made a thoughtful noise and sighed before shaking his head. “There isn’t much. Just islands around here…”

Suddenly Hiccup was on his feet pacing around excitedly and Jack blinked watching him move around, Toothless even curious enough to lift his head from his paws. “That’s what I mean! I want to go out there and map them! Explore the islands around us! How many things are out there that we don’t know? And now we can know because we’ve got Dragons!”

“You’re really serious?” Jack asked with a small smile and a laugh. “You want to see what’s out there?”

Hiccup turned and looked at Jack for a long moment. “Yes, I want to. Jack you’re been out there, beyond the seas. Furthest I’ve ever gone is Breakneck Bog…maybe Outcast Island…but nothing further. But I want to! I want to see it all! Imagine it…a massive map that shows everything!”

A smile graced Hiccup’s face. A true smile, not one of his amused smirks when something funny happened. A true and true smile…one that found its way to Jack’s face and the Winter Spirit stood up, clutching his staff. Hiccup turned to his friend and when he caught the look in Jack’s eyes, his grin became even wider.

“Let’s do it then. Get what you need and we’ll explore the different islands. And we’ll go further and further!” Jack exclaimed.

“Yes!” Hiccup cheered, leaping around as Toothless got up and bounced over excitedly.

“Yes what?”

Both boys whipped around and coughed sheepishly as Astrid stood with her hands on her hips, a slender brow raised in mild confusion.

“A-Astrid! Hey Astrid, hi Astrid…what are you doing here Astrid?” Hiccup asked, coughing in nervousness.

Toothless made an amused snort as he turned to look at Jack and the immortal couldn’t help but laugh.

“I came looking for you.” Astrid said, irritation clearly in her voice. “Where have you been? We’ve been waiting for you all day!”

Hiccup frowned. “What?”

Astrid groaned. “Seriously? Hiccup last night you said we’d all go and train today over in the rocks! We all need to work on our reaction times! Did you forget?”

The teen looked away, giving Astrid all the information she needed. Hiccup had forgotten and that made her growl in more irritation.

“What gives Hiccup?” she demanded, getting closer to the other Viking. “You don’t usually forget things, especially not Dragon training! And another thing! You haven’t been yourself at all lately. Is there something going on? Did something happen and you just don’t want to talk about it?”

Jack frowned at the sudden barrage of questions being fired at Hiccup and the teen did nothing but step back as Astrid approached, poking him roughly in the chest with every question. Hiccup stumbled a bit and Jack scowled. He’d had enough. A blast of cold air slammed into Astrid, sending the blonde girl stumbling back into a pile of snow.

“Astrid!” Hiccup yelled surprised before shooting Jack a dirty look and moving toward the girl.

Jack frowned at the look. “Hiccup?”

Astrid sat up and allowed Hiccup to pull her out of the bank. “What happened?”

“Random gust of unwanted wind.” Hiccup muttered with a shake of his head, not noticing how Jack flinched at the word and took a step back. “Come on Astrid; let’s go back to the village. Let’s go Toothless!”

The Night Fury hesitated for a moment and looked at Jack as the Spirit turned away from Hiccup like a pouting child. The Dragon made a small sound before following after Hiccup when the human called for him again.

And then Jack was alone in the cove. A cold bitter wind filled the cove but Jack pushed away the thoughts of anger. He didn’t need a storm to appear suddenly. Not without giving the Vikings a chance to prepare for a freeze…but then again…what did he care? He scowled and shook his head. Where had that thought come from? Jack let out a heavy sigh and stared up at the clouds. He needed to get out of here. With one last look over his shoulder Jack launched himself skyward and disappeared up into the thick clouds.

 

xXx

 

“Toothless? Toothless what are you doing?” Hiccup glanced over at his Dragon, the animal staring up toward the tops of the trees in the direction of the cove.

Hiccup approached and reached out to set his hand on Toothless only to jerk back when the Dragon growled at him, whipping his head around to bare his teeth. The auburn haired male frowned and stared in surprise when Toothless growled once more before turning to stare toward the steadily thickening clouds.

“Come on Bud, let’s go inside.” Hiccup said, trying to coax the Dragon into the house.

Toothless jumped away from Hiccup and turned to face him, growling before snapping angrily at his rider.

“Toothless! What’s gotten into you?” Hiccup demanded as Astrid appeared behind him with Stormfly.

“Hiccup?” the blonde asked with a frown. “What’s up with Toothless?”

The boy shook his head. “I don’t know. He was fine and now he doesn’t want me to touch him.”

Astrid moved closer and reached her hand out, calling to the Dragon soothingly only to jerk her hand away when Toothless snapped at her as well. “What’s wrong?”

“My touch hasn’t even been unwanted before.” Hiccup muttered with a frown. “Except when I first met him but that’s…”

The Viking trailed off and stared for a long moment before groaning and slapping himself in the forehead with his palm. Astrid stared for a moment and Toothless sat back, ears up at attention as Hiccup muttered angrily to himself.

“Why was I so stupid to say something like that?” he berated before turning to look at Toothless. “Because I said unwanted right?”

Toothless gave Hiccup a deadpan look and the Viking nodded sheepishly.

“What do you mean because you said unwanted?” Astrid asked with a frown.

Hiccup heaved a sigh and turned to face Astrid. “Maybe I offended the gods. I don’t know…but I’m gonna try and fix it.”

Astrid raised an eyebrow. “Fix it how? Which god did you upset?”

There was a long moment of silence and Hiccup scratched his cheek absently causing Astrid to sigh. Clearly he wasn’t going to answer her question. She rolled her eyes and shook her head before propping her hands on her hips.

“Well then, how can I help?” she asked.

Hiccup hesitated and sighed. “I don’t think you can.”

“What? Hiccup I’ve always helped you with stuff like this. Why can’t I help now?” she prompted with a small disbelieving wave of her hand. “What’s different?”

“Because I don’t know what to do yet.” Hiccup answered after a minute. “Just gimme some time to figure out what’s going on.”

The blonde frowned and then sighed as Hiccup mounted his Dragon and shot off like a bullet. “What’s going on with you Hiccup? Why won’t you tell me?”

 

xXx

 

The sun was close to setting by the time Toothless and Hiccup found Jack. The Spirit was sitting out far from the village but still on Berk. They landed carefully and Hiccup slid down before looking at Toothless. The Dragon glanced at Jack then back to Hiccup before making a motion with his head toward the immortal. Hiccup sighed and began to make his way over to the forever teen. Jack turned slightly and looked at Hiccup but didn’t say anything…just stared at him for a long moment before turning away to stare out from the ledge he stood on.

“Hey Jack. I was worried you’d left Berk.” Hiccup began conversationally.

Jack tilted his head to the side but didn’t say anything. At least he was listening to him…that was a good sign right?

“It took a while to find you…couldn’t help but think it.” he continued.

“I said I wouldn’t leave without telling you.” Jack stated.

Hiccup nodded and came to a stop beside the other male. They were silent for a long moment and Toothless rolled his eyes before settling down. Nothing was going on so he didn’t worry about the two getting into a fight or anything.

“What are you doing out here?” Hiccup asked.

Jack scowled at him. “Unwanted wind remember?”

Hiccup flinched and sighed. “I didn’t mean it Jack. I like you being around but I didn’t like you attacking Astrid like that. What brought that on anyway?”

“She was bullying you.” Jack muttered with a frown. “I didn’t like that…so I made her stop because you weren’t doing anything.”

Hiccup blinked several times and turned to face the other boy. “So you were just trying to defend me?”

Jack shrugged. “I’ve been doing it for years. It was habit to do something. It’s not the first time I’ve done something to Astrid.”

“You’ve done other stuff to her?” Hiccup asked surprised.

Jack shrugged again and rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, I’ve frozen her boots and stuff. She’s not the only one I’ve messed with. Snotlout a lot…I usually pelt him with snowballs…”

Hiccup stared for a long moment before he began laughing uncontrollably. Jack stared for a moment before the laughing became infectious he couldn’t help but start laughing as well. Toothless watched the two boys hit the floor, lost in fits of laughter. The Dragon smiled inwardly and settled back down to simply watch them. Soon however the laughter died down and the two ended up leaning against each other.

“Thanks Jack…for defending me.” Hiccup said quietly, the two sitting with their backs against each other. “I was surprised that you did that to Astrid.”

Jack made a small noise in the back of his throat. “Yeah I shouldn’t have done that I guess. It’s just habit by now. Defending you…”

Hiccup let his head fall back against Jack’s shoulder and smiled. “Thanks Jack.”

“Anytime Hiccup…anytime.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimers: I don’t own How to Train Your Dragon 1 & 2 or Rise of the Guardians. Those belong to DreamWorks Animation. Any mentions of “The Big Four” characters belong to Disney/Pixar.
> 
> Pairings: Eventually there will be…but at the moment there aren’t  
> Rating: PG-13…for now  
> Warnings: AU, language, horrible misrepresentation of Vikings, eventual smut, angst…delicious angst…use of the Jokul Frosti bandwagon 
> 
> Notes: Sorry this one took so long to write. I had started it elsewhere and it ended up being inaccessible as the flashdrive decided to just get really stupid on me. But yay here we go!

Fresh snow crunched under boots as the Vikings stomped around in their usual gruff manners. It was bright and early and many children were out playing as another storm the night before brought even more snow. It was a nice change from the normally hard icy winters they had to deal with. Astrid grinned as she continued past people, heading toward the blacksmith’s forge where she knew that Hiccup would be. She’d seen the coolest snow village that she assumed Hiccup had made for Toothless and wanted to say something to her friend about it. As she approached she could hear the clang of a hammer on the anvil and grinned. Sounded like he was busy. She stopped near the window and watched him for a moment.

It always amazed Astrid, how someone as scrawny as Hiccup could wield such a large hammer with ease while he was working, when he couldn’t seem to do it any other time. Hiccup was oblivious to Astrid at first, his mind on many other things while he worked. It was a repetitive motion that was simple and allowed his mind to wander. He and Jack were planning on going to exploring soon and Hiccup was trying to figure out the details in his head. He had time off from working the forge so that wasn’t an issue but lately it seemed that Astrid was very much set on having Hiccup’s attention constantly. And it was odd seeing as how they were no longer romantically interested in each other. At least that’s what he’d been lead to believe. They’d even already discussed this fact shortly after he’d woken up some months ago.

He remained unaware of Astrid as she got comfortable sitting on the windowsill to continue to watch him work. However after several moments of feeling eyes on him, which he assumed to be Jack at first, he lowered the hammer to the anvil and turned to look at the blonde, who grinned at him.

“Oh, hey Astrid.” Hiccup greeted before deciding it was okay to continue working.

She continued to watch him as she shifted on the windowsill before grinning, tapping her semi-blunt nails on the wood where she sat. “I saw that snow village you made for Toothless to destroy. When did you do that?”

Hiccup stopped mid-swing, his arm high above his head, as he looked at her with wide eyes. “What?”

“The small snow village you made, behind your house?” Astrid prompted with a frown as she eyed the hammer for a moment wondering how much longer he’d be able to hold it up there. Would she need to jump in and prevent him from dropping it on his head? “Toothless was stomping through it and playing like he was terrorizing snow people, I think.”

That had to be Jack playing with him. Wait, had the blonde seen him? Had she seen Jack’s abilities? His mind was in a mixture of concern and irritation that the girl could have possibly become aware of Jack. That was a startling realization! The hammer came down as if to continue working and missed the anvil by inches, but the momentum jerked an unaware Hiccup down and he stumbled, his head coming into contact with the edge of the anvil. Astrid was by his side immediately as he hit the floor.

“Gobber!”

 

xXx

 

Jack laughed as he rebuilt the snow village he’d made in the safety of the shadows behind Hiccup’s home. No one would see him here…well no one saw him anyway. But no one would see his magic or the village. Or so he’d thought. Toothless wiggled excited before bounding through the snow and wrecking the village, growling before biting the roofs of some of the snow houses and buildings while Jack sat beside him and did his role as the terrified villagers. A swipe of a tail had the village demolished once again and Jack was going to rebuild once more before stopping when Toothless turned away, staring at the edge of the house curiously.

The black Dragon’s ears came up and he stared before hurrying off around the house, Jack following behind. “Hey wait for me!”

They rounded the building in time to see Astrid taking Hiccup inside. Toothless immediately followed his human, Jack having just enough time to slip in before the door closed. Sure he could have opened it himself but, that would have be weird for Astrid to see. The spirit took a moment to survey what he was seeing and then was by Hiccup’s side as Astrid tried to tend to the cut on the boy’s forehead.

“What happened?” Jack asked immediately his eyes straying to Toothless who sat beside the chair Hiccup was in and nuzzled his human’s hand with his nose.

Hiccup waved off Astrid, finding himself growing oddly irritated with her mothering manners. “It’s fine Astrid, it was just an accident.”

“Are you sure?” Astrid asked worriedly as she hovered near her friend, her hands out slightly as if to help with anything.

“I’m fine. I’m just going to stay here and rest. Don’t worry about it.” Hiccup stated.

Astrid wanted to protest but the seemingly sudden drop in temperature had her hesitating. Worried blue eyes turned back to Hiccup and he seemed either unaffected or unaware of the change. Maybe it was just her. She nodded slowly and took a step back.

“Are you sure though? I don’t mind sitting here to look after you. It might not be a good idea for you to be alone.” Astrid offered once last time.

“I’m sure.” Hiccup answered.

Jack glanced over at the blonde and scowled. “He said he’s fine. So get lost.”

Hiccup’s hand lifted from where he had it on the arm rest and seemed to make a subtle dismissive motion, which was directed toward Jack to calm him down, before bringing that hand up to run through his hair. “I’ll be okay Astrid. I’m just going to sit here with this thing on my head. I won’t fall asleep or anything and I’m not alone.”

He could tell the girl wanted to say something. But in the end she nodded slowly and retreated from the house, shutting the door behind her. He let out a tired sigh only to jump when suddenly cold hands were on him.

“What happened?” Jack asked again as he grabbed Hiccup’s chin, pushing damp hair back, and tilted the younger male’s face to better see the nasty looking bruise and cut just above the brow line.

Hiccup tried to pull away but found himself unable to when Jack tightened his grip on his chin. “It was just an accident. I wasn’t paying attention to the anvil and might have almost knocked myself out on it.”

Arctic eyes darted down to his face and Hiccup barely fought the embarrassed blush that threatened to consume him. Jack grinned after a moment of serious observation and then laughed.

"Man you are clumsy.” Jack teased as he summoned a small snowball to put against the wound, ignoring the way Hiccup first flinched and then puffed up indignantly. “If you don’t watch out you’ll end up like Gobber.”

 

xXx

 

“Hiccup move!” Jack yelled as he shoved the smaller teen out of the way.

Hiccup caught himself from falling and turned in time to see the Dragon’s fire hit Jack’s back, catching the brown half-cloak he wore on fire, his eyes widening. Toothless immediately took off after the other Dragon while Hiccup hurried over to Jack. The white haired spirit had managed to shed his cloak, luckily or perhaps unluckily having left his vest back on Berk, before he took too much damage but his back was raw and red from the burns.

“Jack!” Hiccup reached out to his friend only to stop short as a layer of ice coated Jack’s back. “What…”

“I’m fine.” Jack mumbled, his voice strained.

Hiccup watched as the ice became opaque before several cracks appeared in it and then it slowly broke away revealing perfectly healed skin. “Whoa.”

“Yeah, kinda useful in situations like this. But sometimes I don’t have the time to stop and heal immediately.” Jack mumbled as Hiccup helped him to his feet.

Hiccup surveyed the damaged shirt and frowned slightly before reaching out to pet Toothless’ head when the Dragon came back looking smug. “I don’t think this can be repaired like the other times.”

“Great.” Jack muttered moodily as he nudged the charred remains of his cloak with his staff.

There was a strange sense of loss coming from the immortal. The cloak had been almost like a type of armor for him…or rather a security blanket of sorts. Now that he didn’t have it, he felt vulnerable and exposed. Hiccup watched as Jack shuddered as though cold and frowned. He’d have to fix this, he was the reason Jack was in this state.

“I think I’ve had enough exploring for today.” Hiccup stated. “We should head back to Berk before it gets too late.

Jack turned to face him curiously and then nodded. “If you want. What kind of Dragon was that?”

Hiccup shook his head feeling a bit sheepish. “I don’t know. I wasn’t really paying too much attention to it. Maybe next time we come back I’ll actually do that.”

Jack laughed and shook his head at they took to the sky to return to Berk. It didn’t take long as they’d chosen to explore a new island but one that was visible from Berk. Baby steps after all. Once they returned to Berk, Hiccup was swept off to do something with Astrid and the others that involved the academy. Jack retreated to Hiccup’s house where he could rest after using his abilities to heal himself. That and he felt uneasy without the cloak…it was throwing off his sense of awareness.

It was considerably later in the evening when Hiccup returned to his house. He ate dinner with his father before retreating up the stairs to his room. He was tired and it was obvious so Stoick didn’t ask him much. He could see that his son needed the rest. Hiccup looked around when he got upstairs and found Toothless on his usual stone slab of a bed but it took several moments to find Jack. The spirit was up on a rafter, leaning against one of the roof’s support beams in a shadowed corner where he seemed to usually stay. Hiccup couldn’t tell if the other was sleeping or just zoning but he didn’t say anything.

He went through the process of getting ready for bed but even with as tired as he was, he couldn’t seem to fall asleep. His mind was racing and he felt guilty about what happened to Jack. He should have been paying attention to what was around him…well in a way he was. But he was more excited to be exploring a new place than actually looking for any danger. He laid there watching what he could see of Jack from the angle he was at for a moment longer before his eyes widened. Wait a minute! He could do that! He grinned and rolled over ready to settle in, to get some sleep.

 

xXx

 

Jack glanced over at Toothless curiously and then offered a small shrug. Hiccup was once again locked up in his room in the workshop. This was the third day in a row! The spirit sighed and shrugged.

“Come on Toothless.” Jack mumbled as he turned away.

The Dragon hesitated for a moment and then followed after Jack almost dejectedly. He followed Jack around to the back of the house where they often spent time as it was more secluded than other parts of the village. Jack entertained himself by picking on Toothless, throwing snowballs at the Dragon until Toothless slammed his tail into the wall and dropped piles of snow on the winter spirit.

Jack dug his way out laughing and sputtering. “Yeah, yeah I know, sorry Toothless.”

The two stayed there behind the house for some time, bored and both feeling a little rejected. Jack worried that maybe he’d overstayed his welcome, it wouldn’t be the first time someone had gotten irritated or fed up with him. Toothless became restless and decided to move about, pushing Jack with his snout until the winter sprite got up and wandered about the village with him. They continued to explore about, people greeting Toothless as they wandered. Several children ran up and a number of them hugged Toothless, giggling as he nuzzled against them.

Jack watched, a soft smile on his face until one of the children passed through him and he was left with that disorienting unpleasant feeling. Toothless made a sound of concern, gold-green eyes watching the immortal carefully and Jack gave a small weak smile. The Dragon’s concern was touching.

“I’m okay Toothless…” Jack said quietly, a dismissive wave of his hand before rubbing almost absently at his chest as though in pain.

In truth he was far from okay and wondered if he would ever get used to the feeling. Having a living person pass through you wasn’t pleasant and the gaping hole it seemed to leave in his chest ate away at him more and more every time it happened. Would it always be this way? He followed along blindly behind Toothless after a long moment of hesitation. Jack’s mind was riddled with things, thoughts chasing themselves around in circles in his head and making him dizzy and, if he were honest, a bit nauseous. Suddenly Toothless stopped and Jack brought his attention from the different thoughts he was having to look at what he was seeing. The other Dragons were playing in the snow and they stopped to look curiously at the two that had approached.

A conversation happened between Toothless and Stormfly and then suddenly Jack was tackled from behind by Meatlug, sending the winter sprite stumbling face first into the snow he’d brought with him. Laughing he got up and played around a bit with the Dragons, throwing snowballs at the Dragons and chasing them around. Hiccup approached the scene and stopped to watch, a small smile on his face. The Dragons certainly seemed to be enjoying having someone else to play with while their Vikings were busy elsewhere.

“Toothless!” Hiccup called loudly and the Dragon turned curiously. “Let’s go home. Bring a snowball.”

Jack laughed quietly at the weird code word. There were too many other people who could hear Hiccup and so far they hadn’t found anyone else who could see the other male so to keep people from thinking their little hero was going crazy, they came up with a code. Toothless and Jack hurried over and followed Hiccup home, Jack eyeing the parcel in his friend’s hand curiously.

“What’s that?” he asked as he floated lazily along.

Hiccup rolled his eyes. “You’ll find out when we get back to the house.”

Jack seemed to accept this statement and they continued on in mostly silence, until Jack started to talk about the different things they’d done while Hiccup was busy. The Viking wasn’t dumb, he knew that his distance had upset Jack, he could tell just by how close Jack seemed to hover. Hopefully though, the wrapped item in his hand would make it better. It didn’t take long to cross the village to the Haddock house and once they were securely inside, Hiccup glanced around. Didn’t need his dad to think he was crazy again…Coast was clear.

“Hiccup?” Jack questioned as Toothless moved across the room and settled down somewhere near the stairs. “Something wrong?”

Hiccup turned and offered a small quirky grin. “Nope. I just wasn’t sure ow this would go.”

“How what would go?” Jack questioned as he set down his staff across the table and perched on the edge curiously.

Hiccup watched him fiddle with the sleeves of his white shirt before inwardly wincing at how awkward Jack looked overall. No, perhaps that wasn’t right. Uncomfortable was a better word for it. Even though it had been a few weeks since his half-cloak had been burned, Jack still seemed uneasy without its protection. Hiccup decided now was the time. He set the parcel down on the table and slowly unwrapped it before grabbing the soft material inside and holding up, shaking it out for a moment.

“Here, I made this for you.” Hiccup said before holding it out.

Jack’s eyes widened comically as he stood up silently. Bare feet padded on the wooden floor as he took a few steps forward and reached out with pale hands to take the offering. “What? Why?”

Hiccup rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly as Jack took the jacket fully from him and shrugged it on. “I felt guilty…about your cloak. So I thought I should replace it.”

Jack looked up and grinned and Hiccup swore for a moment his heart skipped a beat. The jacket had been simple in design, stopping at the waist with long sleeves. It was a dark blue in color, something that had taken several rounds in the dye pots to get right, and for one reason or another, Hiccup felt it was necessary to add a hood. White wolf fur lined the cuffs, hood, and opening of the jacket, standing out nicely against the rich blue color.

“This is amazing.” Jack mumbled as he ran his hands over the strip of fur. “This must have taken a while.”

Hiccup shrugged, hoping his face wasn’t as red as it felt. “It was a little hard but nothing I couldn’t handle. The fur came from different wolves that other villagers had killed…I know you don’t technically get cold but I thought…well…Gobber got curious…and we get cold…and I just thought…”

Jack laughed. “You’re rambling.”

This time Hiccup did blush as he inhaled sharply and stopped talking. He offered another crooked grin white Jack returned with a brilliant one of his own. Now, the only question was, would others see just a floating coat? Without warning the front door opened as Stoick came in, talking loudly with Gobber about something. Hiccup and Jack froze as Stoick stopped to glance in their direction. If he saw a floating coat he didn’t say anything, merely greeted Hiccup in his typical gruff manner and continued to argue with his best friend. Well that answered that question…

The two escaped into Hiccup’s room with Toothless following closely behind them. He didn’t want to be caught up in whatever was going on with the chief either. Once they were in the bedroom, Jack’s grin widened and before Hiccup could stop him, he threw his arm around the smaller male. Hiccup made a strange indignant squawk as he was picked up and crushed against chilly but surprisingly soft body. After a few moments he was put back down and cleared his throat as Jack jumped up onto the rafters, still fawning over the jacket he’d been given.

“It’s just a coat…” Hiccup mumbled, watching his secret friend.

Jack glanced down and gave him an easy smile. “It’s the first thing I’ve gotten since I woke up in that lake.”

Hiccup fell silent before nodding slightly. That was, uncomfortable…he’d forgotten for a moment that since no one could see him…no one could give him any gifts. There was a long almost awkward pause in the air before Hiccup mumbled something about working on his projects while Toothless got comfortable on his ember bed near the window. Eventually the awkwardness faded away and the silence became much more comfortable, causal, like it always did when Hiccup worked on his stuff.

The two friends settled into their typical routine, Hiccup sitting at the small desk in his room, Jack hiding near the rafters. A soft tune filled the air after a while and it took Hiccup a moment to realize it was coming…from Jack. He glanced over to the winter teen who had moved from the rafters to sit in the opening that Toothless used to come and go. The white haired male was staring up at the moon, a silvery sliver in the sky, humming something Hiccup had never heard before.

“What’s that?” Hiccup asked after several long moments of simply listening.

Jack jerked as though startled and glanced over at Hiccup, eyes wide in surprise. “What?”

“The tune you were humming just then.”

“Oh…” Jack hesitated for a long moment before frowning. “I don’t remember, well, I guess I can’t remember. But I think it used to comfort someone…”

Hiccup watched Jack for a moment longer as the immortal spirit turned away to look back at the moon. The Viking absently recalled the conversation he’d had with Jack back when they’d first met. Jack had no memories beyond the moon…Hiccup frowned. He couldn’t imagine what that had to be like…not knowing family or friends. Not even knowing where you came from. Green eyes darted over to Toothless and Hiccup pondered again. Did Jack have someone like Toothless? Did his family miss him? Was his family even still alive? Hiccup shuddered and pushed the thought away. It was something he didn’t think he could help Jack with…not right now anyway.

 

xXx

 

The morning air was cool and crisp, chilly to the one alive. But it was refreshing and Hiccup loved the wind in his hair. He was astride Toothless back as they flew high in the sky, above the clouds as the sun steadily rose in the sky. It was freeing, liberating…something that he didn’t have to share. The rest of the village below was slowly waking up, other Dragons rising from beds and perches. Jack flew along beside him, arms outstretched, riding the wind without any help. Hiccup watched him for a moment, wondering what it must have felt like…the freedom…

He smiled inwardly to himself and urged Toothless to go faster. The Dragon quivered under his touch and then shot off like a bullet. Jack yelled something that sounded suspiciously like “hey!” but the wind was too loud up here to make it out fully. Hiccup laughed and the two raced off into the sky, Jack chasing after him with a loud whooping laugh.


End file.
